Indian leaders condemn arrest and strip-search of its diplomat in New York as
'barbaric'

Indian leaders boycotted meetings with visiting US Congressmen on Tuesday amid a growing diplomatic row over the arrest and strip-searching of a senior Indian diplomat accused of visa fraud, making false statements and illegally paying her domestic servant below the minimum wage in the United States.

The speaker of the Indian parliament, its national security advisor, home minister and both main contenders to be India’s next prime minister - Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi - cancelled planned meetings with the US delegation over what they described as the ‘humiliating’ and ‘barbaric’ treatment of Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul in New York.

Dr Khobragade, 39, was arrested and handcuffed as she dropped her daughter at school and was later strip-searched as part of American screening procedures for detainees. She faces charges of visa fraud and paying illegal wages below the statutory minimum to her Indian domestic servant.

According to New York Police, Dr Khobragade had made a false statement that her Indian servant would be paid $4,500 (£2,760) per month on her visa application but in fact paid her just $500 (£306). She was arrested last week and held with alleged drug offenders but has since been released on $250,000 (£153,000) bail.

The United States ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, was summoned by India’s foreign secretary to explain Dr Khobragade’s treatment in what India regards as a serious breach of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity. The U.S state department denied it had mistreated Dr Khobragade and said diplomats enjoy immunity only in matters relating to their work. Her treatment – being handcuffed and strip-searched – was normal screening procedure for the U.S Marshall Service, it said.

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India’s foreign secretary Sujata Singh was reported to be angry that she had not been told of the diplomat’s impending arrest during her visit to the U.S last week even though the state department had been notificed. India’s External Affairs minister Salman Khurshid said today Dr Khobragade had been subjected to a to”a form of indignity (that) is for us completely unacceptable.”

Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat and Bharatiya Janata Party leader many expect to be India’s next prime minister said he had “refused to meet the visiting USA delegation in solidarity with our nation, protesting ill-treatment meted to our lady diplomat in USA.”

Pavan Varma, a former senior Indian diplomat said he was “outraged” by the treatment of Dr Khobragade which reflected American “arrogance” and “insensitivity”. It breached the Vienna Convention on the ‘civility’ with which diplomats must be treated and “can only be condoned by the fact that it considers itself to be the most powerful country in the world and the rest of the world should lump it,” he said.

He said many Indian diplomats posted around the world employed Indian household staff on Indian level terms and conditions. “The domestic staff live in with food and entitlement to health benefits, there is support to family members back home. For countries to impose unfeasible criteria on adequate remuneration for other countries, even if it complies with our standards of living and insist the rest is all exploitation is nonsense,” he added.

India now appears set to carry out further retaliation in relation to salaries paid to Indian servants by American diplomats in India. Most domestic servants in New Delhi, including those employed by the staff of various embassies, are paid around 12,000 Rupees ($200 or £120) a month – considerably lower than than the $500 or £306 paid to Dr Khobragade’s housekeeper.